Know About An EU Navy? They Set Sail For Somalia *

08.12.2008

We worried about an EU Army, and forgot to look at what was going on by stealth. We look at what is taking place by stealth and forgot to look up at the sky to see the EU Airforce in action. The phantom force, and we were told there was no need of a referendum.

The EU, for the first time in its history sets out its EU Navy. (Did YOU know there was an EU navy?) Not bad for what was put forward as a “Common Market” for trade. The UK Navy is taking part.

Now tell me by what Legal Base the EU is using for this Action? Which Treaty has been used? IT certain cannot be Lisbon. When were the people given a “SAY” on this grave constitutional move to commit our forces to this action under the command of the EU?

[Oct] Members of the EU Parliament clashed Wednesday over the possibility of sending a naval mission to the volatile coastal waters off Somalia.

At an EU Parliament hearing in Brussels Wednesday sparks flew over the legality and justification of a possible deployment of an EU naval mission to the Horn of Africa region. Somalia’s coastal waters have become extremely dangerous after a surge in piracy. The violence is threatening much needed humanitarian aid for the war-ravaged Somalia. Additionally, the spike in piracy is causing problems for global trade through the Suez Canal, the EU Observer reported. At the hearing MEPs debated the reasoning behind sending an EU naval mission to the Gulf of Aden when the multinational counter-terrorism naval operation Combined Task Force 150 is already in the region. “It is a pity that the

British government has agreed to an EU naval operation at the same time that NATO will be engaged in the same waters,” British MEP Geoffrey van Orden said in a statement, as reported by the EU Observer. “Not only does this introduce unnecessary complexity and political confusion but it stretches our meager naval assets even further.” While the EU council and the EU’s military coordination cell defended the possible deployment of five or six ships, other MEPs derided the operation, including German MEP Angelika Beer, who, according to the EU Observer, called into question whether the deployment adhered to international law.

BRUSSELS (AFP) — The European Union is set to launch its first-ever naval operation on Monday, with six warships and three surveillance planes patrolling pirate infested seas in the Horn of Africa.

The EU vessels face the daunting task of covering an area of around one million square kilometres, in waters that have seen nearly 100 ships attacked by pirates this year.

And the mission’s ability to serve any meaningful purpose — beyond a deterrant role — remains under a cloud,

With a headquarters in Northwood near London, the fleet will initially be led off the coast of Somalia by Greek Admiral Antonios Popaioannou, with a Spaniard and then a Dutch officer taking over after three month terms.

While the EUNAVFOR Atalanta mission officially starts Monday — taking over from four NATO vessels in the waters — it is unlikely to be up to full strength before the end of the month.

“We have responsibility there to escort, and to deter, and to protect, and those things are going to be done with very robust rules of engagement,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday, at NATO headquarters.

Those rules of engagement will be endorsed by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels Monday.

Another problem is the legal puzzle that arises once pirates are captured.

Only a few navies can actually catch and try suspects, and of those none are keen to do so except on a case by case basis. On top of that, EU nations cannot turn them over to countries where they might face the death penalty.

France, for instance — which holds the EU’s rotating presidency — is a historic maritime power but laws on piracy were cleaned out of its penal code in October 2007 and it will have to reintroduce them.

AFP / Google News
07.12.2008critics saying the only way to beat piracy is to start the battle on land, in lawless Somalia.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin

“The pirates are not fish who just sprang up out of the sea,” he said. “They came out of Somalia. It is far-fetched to try to clamp down on piracy without first having put the situation in mainland Somalia under control.”

“You don’t stop piracy on the seas. You stop piracy on the land,” NATO’s top commander General John Craddock said last week.